14 Nebuchadnezzar asked them, "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, is it true that you don't serve my gods or worship the gold statue I have set up? 15 Now if you're ready, when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, drum, and every kind of music, fall down and worship the statue I made. But if you don't worship it, you will immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire—and who is the god who can rescue you from my power?" 16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to the king, "Nebuchadnezzar, we don't need to give you an answer to this question. 17 If the God we serve exists, then He can rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and He can rescue us from the power of you, the king. 18 But even if He does not rescue us, we want you as king to know that we will not serve your gods or worship the gold statue you set up."
Previously on Faithfulness
1. Daniel & his friends had refused the king’s food because of their vow to the Lord. Their people had been taken captive & as an act of contrition, they had refused “party foods” like meat & wine
2. Daniel & his friends convinced the chief eunuch to do this despite the king’s orders. They took a 10 day test & after the 10 days, God rewarded their faithfulness by making their appearance better than those around them (see Daniel 1:15).
3. Daniel & his friends we’re given understanding in all manner of literature & wisdom. Daniel was given the ability to interpret visions & dreams (see Daniel 1:16-19).
4. They were 10 times better than any of the wisemen & magicians of their eras (see Daniel 1:20).
Key Points
• Synopsis
King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream he didn’t understand. He wanted a revelation of what the dream meant but refused to tell anyone what the dream was for fear that somebody would lie to him about the meaning. Daniel & his friends prayed for revelation & God answered. He revealed both the dream & it’s meaning. The King was so happy, he rewarded Daniel w/offerings, honor & power. Daniel was given charge over the province of Babylon & was promoted as chief among the wisemen. Daniel then made his friends the governors’ of the province of Babylon while he remained at the King’s side.
• The King of Babylon was considered a god-king.
Psalm 82:6-7
6 I said, "You are gods; you are all sons of the Most High. 7 However, you will die like men and fall like any other ruler."
• Faithfulness will be tested. What is the difference between testing & temptation – the result. (See Daniel 3:14-15)
Isaiah 48:10
10 Look, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
Story: Faithfulness Being Tested
One stormy night an elderly couple entered the lobby of a small hotel and asked for a room. The clerk said they were filled, as were all the hotels in town. "But I can't send a fine couple like you out in the rain," he said. "Would you be willing to sleep in my room?" The couple hesitated, but the clerk insisted. The next morning when the man paid his bill, he said, "You're the kind of man who should be managing the best hotel in the United States. Someday I'll build you one." The clerk smiled politely. A few years later the clerk received a letter from the elderly man, recalling that stormy night and asking him to come to New York. A round-trip ticket was enclosed. When the clerk arrived, his host took him to the corner of 5th Avenue and 34th Street, where stood a magnificent new building. "That," explained the man, "is the hotel I have built for you to manage." The man was William Waldorf Astor, and the hotel was the original Waldorf-Astoria. The young clerk, George C. Boldt, became its first manager.
Hebrews 2:18
18 For since He Himself was tested and has suffered, He is able to help those who are tested.
Hebrews 4:14-16
14 Therefore since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens – Jesus the Son of God—let us hold fast to the confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tested in every way as we are, yet without sin. 16 Therefore let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us at the proper time.
True Faithfulness is never compromised (See Daniel 3:16-17)
Story: Faithfulness Being Tested
Briars in the Cotton Patch is a documentary directed by Faith Fuller. It tells the story of Clarence Jordan. Clarence had 2 Ph.D.s, one in agriculture and one in Greek and Hebrew. He was a gifted man who was called to serve the poor. In the 1940s, he founded a farm in Americus, Georgia, and called it Koinonia Farm. It was a community for poor whites and poor blacks. As you might guess, such an idea did not go over well in the Deep South of the '40s. Ironically, much of the resistance came from good church people who followed the laws of segregation as much as the other folk in town. The town people tried everything to stop Clarence. They tried boycotting him, and slashing workers' tires when they came to town. Over and over, for fourteen years, they tried to stop him.
Finally, in 1954, the Ku Klux Klan had enough of Clarence Jordan, so they decided to get rid of him once and for all. They came one night with guns and torches and set fire to every building on Koinonia Farm but Clarence's home, which they riddled with bullets. And they chased off all the families except one black family which refused to leave. Clarence recognized the voices of many of the Klansmen, and, as you might guess, some of them were church people. Another was the local newspaper's reporter. The next day, the reporter came out to see what remained of the farm. The rubble still smoldered and the land was scorched, but he found Clarence in the field, hoeing and planting.
"I heard the awful news," he called to Clarence, "and I came out to do a story on the tragedy of your farm closing." Clarence just kept on hoeing and planting. The reporter kept prodding, kept poking, trying to get a rise from this quietly determined man who seemed to be planting instead of packing his bags. So, finally, the reporter said in a haughty voice, "Well, Dr. Jordan, you got two of them Ph.D.s and you've but fourteen years into this farm, and there's nothing left of it at all. Just how successful do you think you've been?"
Clarence stopped hoeing, turned toward the reporter with his penetrating blue eyes, and said quietly but firmly, "About as successful as the cross. Sir, I don't think you understand us. What we are about is not success but faithfulness. We're staying. Good day." Beginning that day, Clarence and his companions rebuilt Koinonia and the farm is going strong today (see http://www.koinoniapartners.org)
• Faithfulness IS NOT attached to what God has given or not given to us. It is attached to the Godhood of God (see verse Daniel 3:18)
Genesis 1:1
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Isaiah 43:10-12
10 "You are My witnesses" —the LORD's declaration—"and My servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe Me and understand that I am He. No god was formed before Me, and there will be none after Me. 11 I, I am the LORD, and there is no other Savior but Me. 12 I alone declared, saved, and proclaimed—and not some foreign god among you. So you are My witnesses"—the LORD's declaration—"and I am God.
Isaiah 45:21-22
21 Speak up and present [your case] —yes, let them take counsel together. Who predicted this long ago? Who announced it from ancient times? Was it not I, the LORD? There is no other God but Me, a righteous God and Savior; there is no one except Me. 22 Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth. For I am God, and there is no other.
//Listen to the 'Faithfulness' Series on the EMF Media Player
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